Tom Swiftys are named after the Tom Swift American adventure novels. The author Victor Appleton (Edward L. Stratemeyer or Howard Garis in Stratemeyer's employ) would always describe every action with an adverb: Tom never just said anything, he said it carefully, excitedly, eagerly, etc. A Tom Swifty is a particular type of pun centering on the adverb in the following formula:

"You should go clean the lawn," Tom said rakishly. "I hate being on welfare," Tom said dolefully. "Those knives are dangerous," Tom said pointedly.

- from www.wikipedia.org

As stated above, a Tom Swifty contains a pun. Good ones may contain two or three puns! As always, brevity is the soul of wit.

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